Why not rework necro minions to function on the level of clones?

[Sephylon.4938]

I'd prefer it if the minions worked like the lich form's summon madness, minions that do something then die off in an explosion. Then possibly get an espec which works with the current iteration of minions with a class mechanic that lets you control them.

[ReaverKane.7598]

@The V.8759 said:

@ReaverKane.7598 said:Would be awesome if they gave Death Nova a bit of oomph, comparable to a shatter or 2.

It would if they would Let it scale off of your own power modifier.

Sigh

Power for the bang, condi for the poison!

@"Sephylon.4938" said:I'd prefer it if the minions worked like the lich form's summon madness, minions that do something then die off in an explosion. Then possibly get an espec which works with the current iteration of minions with a class mechanic that lets you control them.

You can do a build around that behaviour though...You can use Reaper with minions and "Rise!" to get a big bunch of temp minions. Add Death Nova to summon even more minions when you kill a foe, and make your minions do damage when they die.That was a popular build a while back. I'm sure they nerfed it, i don't know the specifics, since i preferred the "In your face" approach to Reaper and never experimented with that build.

[needbeer.1687]

guild wars 1 minions did it right.

[ReaverKane.7598]

@needbeer.1687 said:guild wars 1 minions did it right.Indeed, GW2 took a step backwards in a few things, this being one of them.

[Lahmia.2193]

@Sephylon.4938 said:I'd prefer it if the minions worked like the lich form's summon madness, minions that do something then die off in an explosion. Then possibly get an espec which works with the current iteration of minions with a class mechanic that lets you control them.

For Dwayna's sake please no more elite specs that are AI orientated.

[MithranArkanere.8957]

Death magic is the defensive line. Same with Inventions.

Phantasms are offensive tools, clones are defensive tools and the mesmer's profession mechanic used for all its roles.

Minions and turrets are defensive tools, used mostly to soak up damage. A meat wall. If anything, minions could use a way to block projectiles like turrets can.

[Justine.6351]

@needbeer.1687 said:guild wars 1 minions did it right.

Yep, should require corpses and lifeforce to raise minions. That would vastly improve them for gw2... Really though, minions in gw1 did no damage either.

Death Nova and Putrid Explosion should really scale off the necromancers stats or something.

[ZDragon.3046]

@Ambush.9420 said:

@ZDragon.3046 said:

@DaVid Darksoul.4985 said:Just got hit by 5 split surge for 2000+ each then a mindwreck for 11000+. Thought to myself wish my minions could deal that damage. Not sure what Anet' view is but I consider clones, pets, minions, thief guild, drones, spirits as all summoned enities. Why are minions so weak compared to the others?

With the exception of flesh golem and bone minions an wurm

All other summons should expire after lingering for 5-10 seconds once they have completed their unique attack. Wit that said they need no less than 2 charges each and the cast times to summon them should be reduced as well as their cds.

The idea is that if they were not so passive and could not potentially live for an unlimited amount of time their damage could be potentially much higher.

No no no no no! The whole reason I play necromancer is to control a mini army. That would be horrible. There are so few MMO's that have a proper necromancer class, guild wars 2 is one of the few ones that does is right. A necromancer is all about controlling an army of undead minions.

if you call 4 mostly ineffective outdated creatures any army then sure.But keep int mind this is just a suggestion i dont expect many people if any to really like it. if you feel like them bieng the way they are is better then thats fine but i think we can still both agree they need to be better than what they currently are.

[Rhyse.8179]

What the OP is complaining about is actually the Mesmer's core class mechanic. It's not the CLONES doing that damage, it's the mesmer itself shattering them. There's no comparison between that and necro minions; they are completely different.

[Riot Inducer.8964]

Seems to me we need something like Order of Undeath. Something to tactically boost minions capabilities, probably at a cost to you the minion master. That would probably the realm of an elite spec type thing. But I like the idea of just bumping up the active abilities for each minion. Make death nova a bit more potent, make the shadow fiend's teleport more responsive, etc.

@"Sarrs.4831" said:Do we actually want Minions to be good? They're already best picks for a lot of PvE content for lack of opposing choices, and I don't want a petting zoo meta in WvW or sPvP.

That is a good point as well. Minions are already pretty reliable in pve, maybe not "optimal" in many places but the wall of meatshields on top of necro tankiness lets you get away with a lot of shenanigans against stuff you shouldn't be taking on alone.

Probably the best thing is just some QoL tweaks to minions and their abilities (like the recent addition of the shark golem) and leave more intensive additions and changes to the elite specs.